Lady of the Curse
by Prelude.of.Decay
Summary: Lilith is promised to a duke, the Boy is escaping his curse, a magician wants his revenge, and the Other Lands await them all. Sleeping beauty loose rewrite. Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: new story. in this chapter we are only learning of a few important characters. enjoy the fairytale! and tell me what you think. should i finish this one? **

* * *

The winds brought with them the scents of spring. The sweet fragrance of lilacs, green meadows, and flowering trees. The slight smell of the mists across the silent lakes, the blooming morning glories, the freshness in the air. It hit me all at once, the wonder of it all. My eyes remained closed as the wind swept through my hair and whipped across my pale face. My hands were the color of violet, chilled as I stood in the morning wind. Yet I was so taken away by the beauty of everything, I dared not move. There was hope in the air. Promises, secrets, beauty. But as I stood there with my arms reaching out to the world, something entered my heart. Something that made me startle, for there was something else in the air as well. Something I could not understand. A warning perhaps.

In my heart the feeling stayed, nestled there like a babe swaddled against its mother's breast. A feeling that someone out in the beyond was warning me of what was to come. So in that moment, I left my balcony and threw on my satin robe that was strewn across my vanity. And I ran from my room and into my father's study, shaking as I pushed the great wood doors open, revealing my presence to him.

"I feel a great sense of doubt." The words felt grave coming from my lips. I was a small girl, only fifteen years of age, and the words did not fit me. They did not suit the child who stood meekly in front of her father, white hair tousled and blue eyes gleaming like a small girl's.

"And what is this…doubt?" my father questioned me, his grey eyes bearing down on me. He stood in front of me like a giant, watching me closely, studying to see if I was worth listening to. His eyes seemed to tease me.

"I feel as if this marriage was not meant to be," I spoke, the words rushed from my mouth. I was afraid of my father and I knew that deep in his heart he did not take my thoughts and actions seriously. I knew that he only thought of me as _that daughter of his_. The spoiled rich girl, the dumb woman who was only educated in sipping tea and bearing children. I knew that he saw my marriage to the duke as my only possibility of making something of myself. He only arranged it so I could make some use of myself, by gaining respect and power to our name. I knew this…by only looking into his deep eyes. I was to marry a man I had never met because it was all I would ever be worth. I had accepted this fate, but I felt from this feeling in my chest that it could be a mistake.

"You have a duty and you have agreed upon it. This…_doubt_ of yours is just a bit of nonsense in your head. I order you to dismiss such feelings and return to your promises." He walked away from me as if he had finished his speech and I began to turn away until he spoke up again. "I only want what is best of you. You are a highly esteemed lady. The Duke would make you very happy…and very wealthy. Do you not wish to make yourself and your family happy?" He had sat down at his desk and opened his journals marked _The Lands Beyond_ and stared at me with sad eyes and a drawn face. He was a good man, but he only thought of wealth and esteem. He was losing his riches and he needed me to marry in order to gain them back. I accepted only to make him happy, to gain his love.

"Of course I do," I answered him. And for a small second I saw a smile under his whiskers, but it disappeared as he nodded to me and turned to his book. I was dismissed. The doubt in my mind was of no importance to him. I had a job to do. I had to marry the Duke. But I was not satisfied with my answer. If everything was as it should be, why would the earth send me a warning?

* * *

That evening my uncle arrived, bringing with him the tides of a changing future. I had been in the drawing room with my teacher, Miss Frenere, and I had just finished a lovely painting of myself, slaying a dragon on top of the mountaintop I saw out of my chamber window. I was smiling with delight when Frenere smacked the drawing table with her pointer.

"A young lady does not paint such things," she muttered, grabbing the painting and tossing it to the side. "You must learn your manners. You are to be _wed_, Lilith, not put to work as a farm girl. Learn your place and act like the lady you are." Her eyes burned as she glared at me, but suddenly her face went soft and her eyes grew agitated. Her body shifted so she could see from the window, and she mumbled as the view came to her. "Forsaken man," she groaned. I opened my mouth to ask what it was, when I began to hear the steady sounds of a carriage, and a man's deep voice boom out, "Hello brother!" It was my uncle, Leroth, and I gasped in delight at the sound of his voice. For he was a magician, the most unique of all men.

"What is he doing here now?" Frenere complained, shutting the golden weaved curtains in anger. I couldn't stop smiling and she sneered at me for it, "You are to stay with me and finish your lessons."

"I have to greet him, the way a _proper_ lady would," I teased her, arising from my seat and bounding towards the door.

"Yes, but he deserves no such thing, girl. He is a crook. Taking people's money in return for his ridiculous _magic_ shows. Wasting their time with his nonsense. Any esteemed lady would stay far away from his trickery. Which includes you, my dear," she explained irrationally. She was a mean woman, never happy with anything the world had to offer her. I was not about to let her spoil the world for me.

"Believe what you want, but I am leaving, and we shall see what my father has to say," I told her, smiling. She was afraid of my father, as was just about every other being whom had ever met him. She kept to herself when he was around, and avoided him at almost all costs. So many times I had used my father as a means of getting my way. With Frenere, they had worked every time. I believe she hated me for it.

"Well then, be on your way," she spit, hatefully. "We shall continue tomorrow, at the break of day. You must be prepared in every way for your marriage." Her hand glided across the darkwood table in front of her. "It's a shame how little time I have to turn you into a woman," she spitefully told me, as I walked from the room. I didn't care what she thought. Tonight I had magic to entertain me.

* * *

"There she is," he roared like a mighty beast, his arms reaching out for an embrace. "There is my beautiful niece! So lovely she's becoming!" I smiled and bounded into his arms, hugging him so "unladylike". He hugged me in return, so strong I felt as if my ribs could break at any moment. But I was delighted for I had finally seen a happy face again. So long it had been since the last. And my uncle's scent made my heart swell with happiness. He smelt like old times, happy times. I buried my face in his chest and drew in the scent of spices and oak, cigars and herbs. He laughed as I did so and stroked my bright hair with his worn hand. "My little Lilly," he laughed, "It's been so long…"

I pulled away from him and laughed. "Too long…. I had been wondering if one of your magic tricks had gone awry." I looked over to see my father standing behind him staring at me again with his sad eyes, and perhaps it was that precisely that stare that brought me back to reality. Brought me back to the fact that mother was dead, that I had to be wed to the duke, that smiles did not exist in my father's world. I stepped out of my uncle's embrace and pasted a sad smile on my face.

"And where have you been these days, Uncle?" I asked Leroth, looking him up and down. He looked more magnificent than the last time I had seen him. Perhaps he had grown a bigger reputation. Gained more respect and a bigger wallet. He was dressed like a nobleman, with the addition to a long velvet cape that draped over his back, and a hefty dangerous sword sheathed on his side, its silver handle a wolf's head, its mouth in a giant snarl as if it were to tear up whomever glanced at it. There were two words indented in the sword's handle, yet I did not get the chance to read it for he turned to his side and threw an arm around my father's neck.

"Ah, enjoying what life has to offer," he beamed. "We've been devouring every town and village in our way. No man can say he has not heard of the Magician Leroth. We've become more powerful than I could ever have imagined." He laughed, his belly heaving as he did so, and I could not help but ask who the "we" was.

"Did you not know, my little lady, that a magician is nothing without his men aiding him?" And it was then that I realized there were others along with him. I blushed with embarrassment as a man and a woman stood forward and greeted themselves.

The man with my uncle was called Mergar. He looked my father's age, yet with even less of a personality. His eyes were empty and lifeless and he talked with no hint of an emotion. His face looked as if it were sculpted from stone, aside from the scars that mutilated it. And his head was shaved and weathered. He looked as if he had visited Hades and had returned alive. I feared his every move. And when he held his hand to me, it took every bit of me not to cringe as I took it. "This man is my right hand. He makes the magic work. What luck it was to find him and his wife in the same place as I that night in Iduna." I remembered that night. I was a child then and as mother lay sick in bed with father at her side, my uncle had whisked me off with him into the night. "To see magic," he had told me. My thoughts had filled with delight as I envisioned seeing the magic he had told me so much about. Magic that father insisted "did not exist". Although in my heart I knew it did. I believed in every word my uncle told me. And that night I rode beside him in his torn up carriage into the village of Iduna.

Everyone was strange in that village, I remembered. There were half naked women inviting men to lay with them, men stumbling drunk every corner, and people with strange pointed ears selling bottles to each passerby. As the carriage entered further, things became even more bizarre than ever. Peculiar colored lights lit the sky, everyone seemed yelling at one another, robed men and women turned pieces of silver into doves. It seemed almost too much to take in. I felt as if I had stepped into another dimension. I saw no lords and ladies, no order or properness, no rules or classes. I was in a different world where you could do whatever you wanted. I was astounded and in my prim little gown and my satin gloves I stepped from the carriage with my uncle and walked past the clouds of smoke, the women wearing glittering dresses, and so many other incredible things I had never conceived. I pretended I was a princess in a fairyworld and my uncle was leading me to a great adventure beyond. I was ecstatic. I looked up to my uncle as if he were a god among gods. But then we arrived at a luminous dark building, of which I can barely describe its magnificence, its darkness.

**A/N: click the button below and comment. :) tell me if you like it and if i should finish this one! thankies!**


	2. The castle of death

**A/N: hellos again! so...this chapter is mainly a backstory to the, er, story. Explains more characters, more backgrounds. kind of short but the other chapters will be longer. hope you enjoy. read and review to tell me what you think. It's also edited a bit so the rating will stay the same. I have a tendancy of writing dark gory stories. Hey! I'm originally a horror writer! haha.**

* * *

Chapter two

If the dark goddess Cerridwen had taken a castle of which to abide, that building would have been such a place. It was the color of night itself, and it was so luminous, so tall, it seemed as if it could touch the heavens. Dead vines crawled up its pillars, starved crows perched along its gates, and its giant doors looked large enough for a giant to enter. Lined against its stone walls were dozens of immense statues. Those of demons beheading women, and dragons with their hearts ripped from their bodies. It was terrifying, and I lost my breath for a moment as I stared up at the monsters watching me. In my mind I saw all of my nightmares coming together to form those horrifying sculptures. But alas it seemed not to scare any other, for crowds were pushing past us for the doors of that strange place. Everyone was rushing through those great stone doors; rushing for something I knew nothing of. But Uncle knew. I could see it in those dark eyes of his.

"Come, my Lilly. We must hurry…" he whispered, taking my hand and pulling me through the crowd. I squeezed his hand with my own and held my breath as he pulled me with him into the dark castle. I was so afraid of what was going to happen.

As if the outside of the building was not enough, the inside was even more grand….dark and eminent. There were hundreds of people gathering inside, eagerly waiting for something I could only guess. There were golden seats lined on the floors and seats high above our heads, each faced towards a stage up front. A stage like no other. It was lined with white lights and blood red banisters. Hooded men lined along the walls, still and silent. And then…the man came.

He entered from the side of the stage and studied the crowd gathered before him. His face showed no expression. His movements were that of any other. He was dressed from head to toe in a black garment. But there was this something about him I could not fathom. The looming room grew silent as he walked from one end of the stage to the other, his feet dragging on the stone floor as he walked. I assumed he was another magician and we were to see his performance, but when I asked my uncle this, he ignored my question and stared ahead at the man on the great black stage.

It seemed the silence went on forever. Everyone staring in eager at the man pacing back and forth along the stage. He would stop every now and then, staring ahead, sending chills down my spine. But when he finally spoke, I felt as if he had crawled into my soul, possessed my every being. I recognized the evil in his voice. I knew he was not there to perform magic tricks. I knew it from the way my uncle gripped my hand as he spoke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen…" the chilling man said, "May I present to you my friend, Gabrien the Enchanter!"

No one applauded. A few sneered and yelled out obscenities. My uncle went stiff, squeezing my hand so hard I felt as if it would break. I was dumbfounded, for Gabrien had been my uncle's friend; his sidekick, his mentor. Yet at that moment my uncle seemed as if he had died. He was frozen still, staring ahead with such a terrified look plastered on his face. I had a feeling of what would happen next.

It was so sudden, so fast. Like a lightning bolt hit down onto the stage and vanished before my eyes. The man on the stage had Gabrien pulled out in front of everyone. Gabrien had screamed, and it echoed through my body, a chilling death of a scream. He begged the evil man for forgiveness, called out to everyone for help. But the evil man laughed and held his hand before the enchanter.

That night I saw magic, real true magic, for the first time in my life. For it was magic that came from the evil man's hands. It was magic that engulfed Gabrien's body. It was magic that tore him to pieces in front of our eyes.

It was magic that caused my uncle to grab my head and cover my eyes with his hands. It was magic that caused him to break down in sobs. It was magic that lit the hate in my uncle's eyes.

I remembered that night as if it had just happened. It haunted me…and I believed it had haunted my uncle as well. He had never explained that night to me. He never told me why it happened, why he left us that very night, why he did not return for another decade, why he only wrote us letters, why he continuously wrote of his former mentor's "mysterious death".

* * *

"Mergar and his wife found me that night," my uncle explained, acting as if the terrifying event had never occurred, acting as if he had only gone to Iduna with me to go sightseeing, keeping the incident a secret from my father. "His wife, Madeline, is a healer," he added, as if that itself explained everything. My father seemed to ignore everything his brother said, but shook the two assistants' hands. Madeline's sour face didn't change and she said not a word as we greeted her. She looked much older than he husband, with fine wrinkles in her face and white streaks appearing in her straw hair. I noticed she wore a necklace made of herbs, and she scowled as she saw me staring at her. I looked quickly away, embarrassed, but no one else seemed to notice. My father was staring at something behind me and I saw my uncle motion for someone to join us.

"And then just two weeks ago I met this wonderful fellow, Dain. We found him traveling on foot in our very direction. I think odds are with me this day in age," Leroth laughed. I turned around to find a young man standing beside me.

"Hello," he greeted my father, ignoring me. He stood with his hands on his waist, as if he were of great importance in our lives. He had a big smile on his face, an almost _obnoxious_ smile, and his big green eyes sparkled with such aliveness. He walked past me to shake my father's hand and I noticed he was dressed in dirty ragged traveler's clothes. What would my uncle want with someone like him?

"Are you another one of my uncle's assistants?" I asked him. He turned around and smiled, looking over at my uncle suspiciously. I noticed the way his smile changed, the way he looked at my uncle, and the way he swallowed nervously. There was something strange about him.

"I am training him to be," Uncle stated.

**A/N: Yay! now REVIEW!! hehe. i'll reward you with another chapter real soon if you do! sorry if its a bit...short. chapters WILL be longer. **


End file.
